Freshmen spill into the commons, while peer mentors hold up numbers to guide them to tables laden with snacks and activities. The Hillsborough High School Peer Mentoring program, made up of 85 juniors and seniors, started off the year with their first meeting on October 16. A program led by upperclassmen, peer mentoring helps acclimate freshman students into the high school community.
Peer mentors and their freshmen meet for a full class period once a month for 45 minutes in the commons. Grouping is decided randomly with the intention to give freshmen the chance to be with people they don’t usually spend time with, to broaden their connections across their high school experience.
Peer mentor Emily Enna said, “Peer mentoring has always been something I wanted to do, even as a freshman. So when I became a peer mentor my junior year, I knew I wanted to make a difference for my freshmen like my peer mentors did for me. My favorite thing about peer mentoring is the kids; I’ve always had awesome groups who were very engaging and loved to participate in the activities. Peer mentoring as a whole has taught me leadership and communication skills, which I try to implement in my life daily.”
Peer Mentoring is advised by Mrs. Nicole Rokoszak, Mr. Eric Maitland, Mrs. Michaela Caminiti, and Ms. Danielle Santoro. According to Rokoszak, topics are relevant to the current student population and include discussions about prioritizing, managing stress, communication, rumors, and digital footprint.
Rokoszak said that peer mentors prepare for their meetings by going over the modules, similar to lesson plans, they will be covering. They must consider their specific group of students and tailor activities to fit the needs of their freshmen, as well as communicate with their partner to make sure everything runs accordingly.
Peer mentors can make their freshman comfortable enough to share within a group by being more open and vulnerable. “As a freshman, peer mentoring always seemed like a hassle and something I really didn’t want to go to,” Aditya Goel, a junior peer mentor said. “But as the year went by, I actually started to understand the importance of what my peer mentors were stressing to me, and the advice they were giving me all along. That’s why, as a junior in my first year of being a peer mentor, I want to give the freshman the same advice and make sure they understand it early. So far, my groups have been really fun and exciting, and I can’t wait to share my experience with them as the year goes by,” she said.
Peer mentoring adviser, Rokoszak said, “I’m hoping that Freshmen will be able to take home tips and tricks from their peer mentors to be more comfortable as a high school student.”
As a peer mentor at Hillsborough High school 20 years ago, Rokoszak reflects on how peer mentoring has been used effectively in past years. She describes the program as, “Successful. It has been a part of HHS for decades. I remember going through peer mentoring as a freshman and being impacted by it.” Every year applicants come forward and write how peer mentoring helped them improve as freshmen when applying to become peer mentors, indicating its overall value at HHS she said. Rokoszak concludes, “In the upcoming years, Peer mentoring will be even better in trying to conquer addressing topics that connect to freshmen experiences, because the needs of the incoming classes are always changing.”
Peer Mentoring will meet again November 20.
